Welcome to South Austin Aikido

Jay sensei, Todd & Tommy attend Winter Intensive at Aikido Eastside in Bellevue, WA - Friday, February 18th through Monday, February 21st, 2005

What an awesome seminar / 4-day intensive! George Ledyard sensei and his students welcomed us with open arms and took very good care of us during our visit.  Everyone in the dojo was very helpful, both on and off the mat, creating an ideal learning environment.  One that was honest, as well as at a pace where we could better understand and improve our technique with weapons and randori.

The detailed focus on weapons was very insightful.  Through the explanation of the purpose behind each movement, we were able to better understand the correct intent (whether nage or uke), and thereby improve both our weapons and open-hand work.  This knowledge carried over into randori.

The instruction on randori was outstanding.  George Ledyard sensei's approach of teaching how to better control a randori, with the focus of one nage attacking three ukes; nage working the edges, the centers and/or using the space to better control the situation, all made a HUGE difference in our understanding of randori. 

It was good that we had a full four days to experience this level of focus on weapons and randori.  The amount of training hours and days were perfect, allowing us the time to apply the newly learned principles.  There was/is so much to learn and we will be reflecting on the lessons from this intensive for many months to come. 

Thank you George Ledyard sensei for providing such an awesome intensive, and thank you to the members of Aikido Eastside for all of their attention, both on and off the mat.  Special thanks to Scott Rodgers for welcoming us into his home and taking such good care of us through out our visit.